Articulated medical devices provide access to sites within a patient's body that are difficult to reach using rigid non-articulating devices. For example, articulated endoscopes provide direct access to internal organs and articulated catheters provide access to tortuous vascular structures.
Articulated medical devices have traditionally been flexible to provide easy manipulation, e.g., to navigate through the lower gastro-intestinal tract. However, it may be difficult to attach an articulation section to the shaft of the medical device if the articulation section and the shaft are formed with flexible materials.
The methods and systems for attaching an articulation section described herein overcome these and other limitations of the prior art. The attachment systems and methods of the present disclosure are broadly applicable to various medical devices and other devices requiring articulation. For example, borescopes use articulation to access difficult-to-reach locations within engines or other industrial devices.
Further, a wide variety of medical devices can be employed to assist in performing endoscopic, laparoscopic, percutaneous, or transluminal procedures. These devices include operable end-effectors such as, for example, cutting blades, forceps, graspers, dissectors, scissors, biopsy forceps, or other types of tools.
It is sometimes necessary to utilize one or more end-effectors during the course of a procedure. In such instances, it may be both economical and efficient to replace the end-effector on the device shaft, instead of replacing the device. It may also be desirable to provide a reusable device handle and shaft. Such arrangements may reduce the overall cost of the device, and allow for hospital inventory control, as a stock device shaft may be provided and any one of multiple end-effectors may be interchangeably used with the device shaft when necessary. As such, there is a need for a mechanism that permits a quick connection and disconnection of an end-effector from a device shaft.